The school ran a Flexible Friday programme for year 7 for the first time last year.  It was so successful that we have continued with a similar programme this year and will include days throughout the year where year 8 will experience themed work such as ‘Staying Healthy’.The cross-curricular projects undertaken by year 7 included:

• For the Eco House project, local government planners, architects, estate agents and eco warriors were invited into the school to help and parents were invited in to see the presentations made by groups of students.  

• Olympic Guides where the students made guides ready for the London Olympics, which incorporated language translations and learning about food, drink and customs from other countries.  The best guides were put on show in the Harleston Tourist Information Centre.  

• ‘I don’t know much about Art but I know what I like…’ was a project leading to the production of boxes, folders and posters about artists from four different periods; these being put on display at the local library and in the school foyer.  

• The Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth provided a venue for the students to immerse themselves into what it might have been like to have been called into service in 1914 from Yarmouth as a fishing village.  The students prepared and wrote plays about the dilemmas of that time and place.

One of the aims of the cross-curricular approach is to teach the students how to learn and more specifically to be independent enquirers, creative thinkers, reflective learners, team workers, self managers and effective participators.  We’ve made a good start.